Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe  (Read 835188 times)

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #775 on: 07 April, 2010, 04:42:46 pm »
How do you fill something with nothing?

Ah, but the Tory Manifesto hasn't been published yet ;)
Getting there...

iakobski

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #776 on: 07 April, 2010, 05:29:38 pm »
On Facebook, part of a political advertisement: Britain's roads are filled with potholes.

How do you fill something with nothing? Potholes are gaps, hollows, nothing but fresh air - or occasionally filled with water and thus dangerous puddles.

Quote
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall....

CrinklyLion

  • The one with devious, cake-pushing ways....

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #778 on: 14 April, 2010, 10:53:29 am »
Exclamation point

*KATHOOOOOOOOOOM*
Getting there...

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #779 on: 19 April, 2010, 07:12:36 am »
I have just received an email that mentors in a company program will be meeting their MENTEES for a session to develop goals.

How can this be a real word?  Am I being asked to ment this person?

I feel like I am the tormentee in this situation. Argh.
@SandyV1 on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/SandyV1

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #780 on: 19 April, 2010, 08:30:25 am »
Perhaps it's a typo for manatees? I'd like to think so.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #781 on: 19 April, 2010, 01:34:58 pm »
I'm loathe to dam this thread with feint praise.
Working my way up to inferior.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #782 on: 19 April, 2010, 01:56:20 pm »
Nice link in the B3ta newsletter this week...
Hyperbole and a Half: The Alot is Better Than You at Everything

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #783 on: 19 April, 2010, 08:49:15 pm »
I have just received an email that mentors in a company program will be meeting their MENTEES for a session to develop goals.

How can this be a real word?  Am I being asked to ment this person?

I feel like I am the tormentee in this situation. Argh.

'...ee' is getting more common and misused. Some buses have 'Standees' as part of the capacity, but should have 'Standers' - they are standing, not being stood.
'Retirees' is just about OK for those who have been retired by company policy but not for those who have retired voluntarily.
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #784 on: 20 April, 2010, 08:14:53 am »
Arguably, if you are a mentor, there must be a mentee. The root is the same in each case. Not sure what menting is though...

rower40

  • Not my boat. Now sold.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #785 on: 20 April, 2010, 09:05:12 am »
Yet no-one bats an eyelid at "attendee".  They are doing the attending, they are attenders, no?
Be Naughty; save Santa a trip

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #786 on: 20 April, 2010, 09:35:29 am »
The "root" of the word mentor is a character in the Odyssey, not the verb "to ment", so it's nonsense to talk of a "mentee". A mentor might have a pupil, or perhaps a protégé, but not a mentee.

Edit: I've looked it up and it seems the most common terms for someone who has a mentor are "apprentice" or "disciple". We need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that such relationships need to be described with words that share a root.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #787 on: 20 April, 2010, 11:07:15 am »
True.  We don't have teacher & teachee, or lecturer and lecturee, nor doctor and doctee or nurse and nursee.
Getting there...

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #788 on: 20 April, 2010, 11:10:33 am »
I think some of us have a nursey.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #789 on: 20 April, 2010, 11:11:37 am »
True.  We don't have teacher & teachee, or lecturer and lecturee, nor doctor and doctee or nurse and nursee.

Precisely. Any fule kno that in modern Britain the correct term-pairings for those relationships are: teacher and client, lecturer and client, doctor and client, nurse and client.

d.

"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #790 on: 20 April, 2010, 11:14:45 am »
True.  We don't have teacher & teachee, or lecturer and lecturee, nor doctor and doctee or nurse and nursee.

Precisely. Any fule kno that in modern Britain the correct term-pairings for those relationships are: teacher and client, lecturer and client, doctor and client, nurse and client.

d.



You must live in a posh area.  I thought the correct corollary was 'customer' :demon:
Getting there...

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #791 on: 20 April, 2010, 11:18:33 am »
I thought it was "punter". Or mug. Probably containing a substance once known as coffee.  ;)
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #792 on: 20 April, 2010, 11:20:21 am »
Winston Smith: Horse Tranquilisers and Recommended Reading

(brilliant blog post by care worker told to refer to residents as "clients")

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #793 on: 20 April, 2010, 11:49:48 am »
We need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that such relationships need to be described with words that share a root.

If I describe anything incorrectly, feel free to unscribe it for me. Or rescribe, or ...
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #794 on: 20 April, 2010, 03:02:47 pm »
True.  We don't have teacher & teachee, or lecturer and lecturee, nor doctor and doctee or nurse and nursee.

Precisely. Any fule kno that in modern Britain the correct term-pairings for those relationships are: teacher and client, lecturer and client, doctor and client, nurse and client.

d.



You must live in a posh area.  I thought the correct corollary was 'customer' :demon:

Stakeholder

 :sick:

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #795 on: 20 April, 2010, 03:05:07 pm »
I thought a stakeholder was a vampire killers assistant.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Tourist Tony

  • Supermassive mobile flesh-toned black hole
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #796 on: 20 April, 2010, 04:39:53 pm »
True.  We don't have teacher & teachee, or lecturer and lecturee, nor doctor and doctee or nurse and nursee.

Precisely. Any fule kno that in modern Britain the correct term-pairings for those relationships are: teacher and client, lecturer and client, doctor and client, nurse and client.

d.



You must live in a posh area.  I thought the correct corollary was 'customer' :demon:
I am required to use that "c"-word...... :sick:

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #797 on: 20 April, 2010, 10:51:01 pm »
Yet no-one bats an eyelid at "attendee".  They are doing the attending, they are attenders, no?
Yes, of course. An attendee is the object of the attentions of an attendant.

The "root" of the word mentor is a character in the Odyssey, not the verb "to ment", so it's nonsense to talk of a "mentee".
Ah, if that's the root, then your argument is unanswerable, and mentee is silly.

Tourist Tony

  • Supermassive mobile flesh-toned black hole
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #798 on: 20 April, 2010, 11:40:59 pm »
So does that suggest "buggee"?

Hope that helps

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #799 on: 01 May, 2010, 09:43:40 pm »


Edit: I've looked it up and it seems the most common terms for someone who has a mentor are "apprentice" or "disciple".
I prefer "young padawan" or "Grasshopper."

I really hate it when people put a question mark at the end of a sentence that isn't a question?
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.